Maine

Lawmakers in Maine overturned Gov. Paul LePage’s (R) veto on a bill to let doctors allow patients to use medical marijuana for any medical reason. According to the Portland Press Herald, lawmakers in the Maine House of Representatives voted 119-23 to override the veto and the state’s Senate voted 25-8 to do the same on Monday. The legislation […]

The Maine House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to override Gov. Paul LePage’s (R) veto of a measure to allow the commercial sale of marijuana in the state. The House overrode the veto with a 109-39 vote, according to The Portland Press Herald. The bill now heads to the state Senate, where lawmakers must […]

Gov. Paul LePage plans to veto the recreational marijuana bill once it reaches his desk because it wouldn’t combine Maine’s medical and adult-use marijuana programs. The two-term Republican doesn’t want two regulatory systems and tax structures for different uses of the same plant, according to his press secretary, Julie Rabinowitz. “He was very explicit about […]

Compromises win over some of the staunchest foes of a previous effort to set rules for adult-use pot in Maine – and the 112-34 vote indicates it can survive a veto. The latest bid to launch Maine’s adult-use marijuana market cleared its toughest political hurdle Tuesday with a veto-proof margin that bodes well for the […]

While many states are standing in the way of marijuana legalization, they usually aren’t outright sabotaging efforts to do so. Even politicians who don’t support cannabis end up implementing the new laws if the voters want it. But some states will go to extreme lengths to prevent the voters’ will from becoming law. Here are […]

After years of operating in the shadows, people who make marijuana-infused foods, tinctures and oils for qualified medical patients may finally get their own state license. State lawmakers who oversee Maine’s medical marijuana program want to license and regulate the use of explosive chemicals or gases to extract concentrates from the cannabis plant. Full of […]

When the Maine legislature’s Joint Committee on Marijuana Legalization and Implementation let the Feb. 1 deadline to extend the state’s moratorium on recreational cultivation and licensing of marijuana businesses come and go, it left the state in an awkward position. Currently, retail marijuana is technically legal without any means for businesses to obtain a license […]

Richard ‘Stitch’ Daniels, 52, is charged with marijuana trafficking and hash oil manufacturing, and officers tow multiple cars, including a Lamborghini Huracan and a Nissan GT-R. LEWISTON — A Lewiston man was charged with marijuana trafficking and manufacturing butane hash oil following a series of raids by state and federal law enforcement officers in Lewiston […]

Workers in Maine no longer have to worry about getting in trouble at work for smoking marijuana in their off time. Employers in the state will no longer be able to discriminate against employees for using marijuana or marijuana by-products outside after new laws went into effect, and the state’s Labour Department has removed the drug from […]

Even though it has yet to record its first retail sale, Maine’s adult-use marijuana market appears to be taking a bite out of the state’s medical marijuana industry. In 2017, the first year that Mainers could legally grow their own recreational pot, the number of medical marijuana patient certifications, dispensary sales and registered caregivers all […]

Maine is cracking down on how caregivers grow and distribute medical marijuana, allowing surprise inspections and implementing a plant-to-patient tracking system. The state Department of Health and Human Services issued new rules Wednesday that tighten Maine’s fast-growing and changing medical marijuana program. The department didn’t issue a statement on the rules, which take effect Feb. […]

AUGUSTA — The Maine House voted Monday to sustain Gov. Paul LePage’s veto of a bill that would create the legal framework for retail sales of recreational marijuana. The bill was the result of more than nine months of work by a special committee tasked with implementing the law that voters narrowly approved last November, putting Maine […]

Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) on Friday vetoed a bill that would legalize the sale of recreational marijuana, nearly a year after residents voted to set up a system to sell and regulate the drug. In a letter, LePage said the law would set up a bifurcated system of recreational and medical sales — which […]

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine lawmakers returned to Augusta and took steps to decide the future of two voter-approved laws, one that legalized recreational marijuana and the other that created a first-of-its-kind ranked voting system for political candidates. Lawmakers on Monday voted to rewrite the state’s recreational marijuana law and delay a new voting system. The so-called […]

A raucous and at times reportedly emotional crowd greeted the members of the Maine 20-member Joint Selection Committee on Marijuana Legalization Implementation (MLI), getting public opinion about draft legislation for recreational cannabis at the Appropriations Committee room – and two other rooms set up to handle overflow – at the Maine State House on September […]

Maine may make purchasing an ounce of marijuana almost as easy as buying a six-pack of beer. Proposed adult-use cannabis regulations from the Legislature’s marijuana committee would allow licensed retail stores to sell pot from drive-up windows and over the internet. Like any other recreational marijuana consumer, drive-up and online customers would have to show […]

Medical marijuana dispensaries and caregivers could join Maine’s new adult-use market under a proposed rewrite of the state legalization act. A draft bill released Monday would let Maine’s eight licensed medical marijuana dispensaries apply for a license to sell recreational cannabis, but they could not sell medical and recreational products at the same counter, said Sen. Roger […]

BANGOR — The top U.S. Border Patrol agent in Maine cautioned residents Monday that officers will still confiscate marijuana when they encounter it and that even family connections to the cannabis industry can disqualify someone from federal employment. Chief Daniel Hiebert, who heads the Houlton sector of the Border Patrol, said Maine voters’ legalization of recreational […]